Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Where's the outrage? Money Magazine just ranked Columbia, Maryland, our Satan-worshipping, Christmas-hating planned community doppelganger across the Potomac, the second best place to live in the nation. For some reason, Reston didn't make the list, even though according to the magazine's fancy interactive charts, we have higher income levels and lower taxes than Columbia, basically making us Ayn Rand's dream come true, except maybe for the rules about what colors you can paint your fences.

To be fair, Money paired Columbia with historic Ellicott City, Maryland -- but they also could have paired Reston with "historic" Herndon, what with its vintage bike path and seafarin' namesake who never set foot in the town. Here's what they had to say:

Columbia offers a wide range of housing, tons of parkland, and a major music venue.

A "major music venue" put Columbia over the top? Apparently, the key to quality-of-life nirvana is seeing Foghat and Lynyrd Skynyrd every summer. But wait -- there's more!

But those varied amenities are far from the only reasons this duo has risen to No. 2 from No. 8 in 2008. It's also an economic powerhouse with a jobless rate just as enviable as Eden Prairie's.

The nearby National Security Agency and the Fort Meade Army base together account for more than 8,000 jobs, and the government plans to move thousands more positions there by next year. Baltimore and D.C. are within commuting distance (30 and 60 minutes, respectively).

As for housing, the foreclosure rate is one of the lowest in Maryland, yet homes are affordable -- by Northeast standards, anyway. Factor in excellent schools and a diverse population (17% of residents are black, 14% Asian), and you can see why this place has become a magnet for families.

This historic town (it has some Civil War sites) is a close-knit suburban community with a great location. Washington, D.C., is anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and a half away, depending on traffic.

We'd go with an hour and a half.

Centerville is also 20 minutes from Herndon, Tysons Corner, and Reston.

So Centreville's main selling point is that it's only 20 minutes from Reston? Really?

With major shopping centers nearby and the Bull Run Mountains an hour's drive away, Centerville lives up to its name.

Note to factcheckers: We're not exactly sure the "Bull Run Mountains" are an hour away. But there's definitely some bull in this list.

Update: Reston wasranked #16 on the magazine's list of "top-earning towns," with a median income of $122,212. And also, Columbia appears to have changed the name of Satan's Wood Drive, but we're not fooled for an instant.

14 comments:

They have a tool there that lets you compare cities, and it looks like the only differrence between Reston and Centervill is that it has low job growthhttp://apps.money.cnn.com/bestplaces_2010/compare_tool_2010.jsp?id=PL5166672,PL5114440,&view=a

I find it amusing that this filthy blog that loves to snark on all things Reston takes offense that Reston isn't rated higher by a dumb ass magazine article. Perhaps the writer of the article visited Restonian and they took all the snark into consideration...

@Anonymous: Just because someone likes living in Reston doesn't mean that that person have to like everything about Reston. We have the right to complain and snark all we want. That's our civic right.. and duty

The biggest problem with Centreville is that no one seems to be able to spell it consistently. Is it 'er' or 're'...to spell it 're' seems so . . . I don't know . . . pretentious! But, as it is in the shadow of the Bull Run mountains, perhaps they can afford a little snobbery. Ha ha ha. I love it when magazines rank places based on never visiting those places or actually looking at a MAP! Dumber still are the people who plan their next relocation based on those magazines' rankings!

That's a nice sound bite, but it doesn't pass the basic logic test. First, none of the proposed plans for accommodating the new teeming masses includes squeezing out the existing riffraff. Second, all new development will include additional affordable housing units. Third, higher population densities seem to bring the worst out in otherwise neighborly folks, as is evidenced by the higher crime rates in high density areas.

Of course, I don't think that the tens of thousands of the unwanted that will be coming will be contain the same proportion of riffraff elements. So, while our riffraff-to-snobs-and-hardworking-responsible-folk ratio may decrease, our total number of riffraff will increase.

wow"Anonymous said...I find it amusing that this filthy blog that loves to snark on all things Reston takes offense that Reston isn't rated higher by a dumb ass magazine article. Perhaps the writer of the article visited Restonian and they took all the snark into consideration..."

I find it amusing that you're reading a blog you hate. If you don't it like then don't read it